Connected and Automated Vehicles

Location: National

Summary of Issue/Background

• Federal and provincial/territorial (FPT) governments share responsibility for motor vehicle safety, including connected and automated vehicles (CAVs).
• The automotive landscape is rapidly evolving and CAVs at the forefront of this transformation, paving the way for a safer and more accessible transportation system.
  • CAVs communicate with their environment and have technologies that allow the vehicle to perform elements of the driving task (e.g. lane keeping, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot monitoring).
  • As human error accounts for 86% of casualties caused by motor vehicle collisions in Canada, it is expected that CAVs will provide significant safety benefits.
• Under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (MVSA), all vehicles imported and sold in Canada must comply with Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations and its associated standards. Transport Canada’s (TC) motor vehicle safety regime sets out an extensive range of safety requirements that apply to all vehicle types, including CAVs.
• Provincial/territorial (PT) governments oversee many of the laws and regulations governing the use of vehicles on public roads, including approval/oversight of CAV trials on their roads.
• In January 2018, the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications released its report on CAVs making recommendations on key issues, such as policy and regulations, safety standards/guidelines and cybersecurity.
• TC has begun working with PTs, industry, and international partners (United Nations, United States) to put in place measures to enable the successful adoption CAV, with a view to improving mobility solutions for Canadians while ensuring safety and privacy. For example:
  • The Government amended the MVSA in March 2018, to afford greater flexibility to keep pace with emerging technologies (e.g. exemptions, interim orders to create short-term regulatory changes);
  • TC has released guidance and tools to provide direction on CAVs, promote alignment within Canada, and form the basis for regulatory development:
    • Canada’s Safety Framework for Automated and Connected Vehicles (February 2019);
    • Safety Assessment for Automated Driving Systems in Canada (Feb 2019);
    • Testing Highly Automated Vehicles in Canada: Guidelines for Trial Organizations (June 2018);
    • FPT Canadian Jurisdictional Guidelines for the Safe Testing and Deployment of Highly Automated Vehicles (Fall 2018);
  • TC works with international stakeholders to ensure regulatory alignment (e.g. TC co-chairs the United Nations working group to establish CAV safety testing requirements).
• TC is actively collaborating with partners to advance guidance and standards needed to support the safe and effective deployment of CAVs as the technology advances.